Over 60 attendees gathered during our First Robotics Cluster meeting this year as we celebrated in the accomplishment of new MassRobotics space. Members of the MassTLC cluster helped develop the initial plan for this space and have promoted its necessity and value since 2014.
MassRobotics Executive Director, Tom Ryden, provided information on the 14,000 square foot space which is able to house 30+ companies and has 4 private offices, conference rooms, private and shared work space as well as a large industrial area with private and shared lab benches and shared resources (electronics lab/machine shop). Tom also shared information on plans to build out another 25000 square feet on another floor in the building.
Short introductions were provided by initial startups who will be residents in the new space:
- – Air Force Research Lab, Human Machine Social Systems (HMSS) Program
- – American Robotics
- – Brain Robotics Capital
- – Hurdler Motors
- – Square Robot
- – New Valance Robotics
Howie Porter from Arrow Electronics described the program that Arrow has provided to MassRobotics residents. This not only includes hardware and electronics equipment for the shared lab space, but a private customer portal that will allow residents to compare and evaluate various components along with discount code for ordering items.
To close the meeting, Tom described the recent announcement that Massachusetts will anchor the northeastern node for the Advanced Robotics Manufacturing Institute (ARM). This was a collaboration of several local universities including MIT/CSAIL, Northeastern University, UMass Lowell and WPI, and private industry partners – as well as MassRobotics!
Thank you to our meeting host:
